While growing in their natural environment, fungi have to react continuously on changes occurring in their environment. Fungi have developed a number of different response mechanisms to react on the environmental changes to sustain growth and reproduction. The research aim of the sub-section is focused to unravel the molecular mechanisms which allow the fungus to interact with its environment using genetic, cell-biological and genomics approaches. Our mission is to understand the molecular mechanisms used by the fungus to respond on internal signals like unfolded protein stress and external signals such as cell wall disturbing agents, plant defence signals and sensing of (complex) nutrients in the environment using Aspergillus niger as our model fungus.

Research themes:

1. Stress responses in filamentous fungi: misfolded protein stress
2. Stress responses in filamentous fungi: cell wall stress
3. Sensing and transcriptional regulation of carbohydrate modifying enzymes
4. Establishment and maintenance of polarized cell growth     

• Duration of participation in the project: minimum of 5-6 months.

Prerequisites

• A profound knowledge of biochemistry and molecular biology is necessary.

Faculty Department

Faculty of Science / The Institute of Biology (IBL).

The Institute of Biology (IBL) brings together biologists working in many different subdisciplines (from ecology to evolutionary biology to molecular biology and metabolomics). Research focuses on different levels, from molecule to cell, to organism to population. Studies deal with microorganisms, plants, fungi and animals (mainly insects and fish). Details can be found at the website of the IBL.